HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) – Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday called President Bush’s refusal to change in course in Iraq a “tragedy of historic proportions,” but said she’s not ready to back the latest attempt to cut funding for the war.
At a house party where more than 50 people sat on rented chairs crammed in a living room, Clinton was urged to co-sponsor a bill proposed by Sens. Harry Reid and Russ Feingold that would cut off funding for the Iraq war by March 31, 2008.
“I’m not ready to co-sponsor it now,” Clinton said, repeating her argument that Congress instead should focus on pressuring Bush to work with Democrats.
“I think it’s important for the American people to see the Democratic majority go the extra mile,” she said. “We have to show the American people that it is he who is being unreasonable.”
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut is the only Democratic presidential hopeful to support the Reid-Feingold measure.
Addressing nearly a thousand people later in a high school gym, Clinton faced her most harsh questioner of the day: a young woman who said she had traveled from New York to ask the senator whether she had read a 92-page intelligence document before her 2002 vote to authorize the war.
“I was thoroughly briefed on it. I was briefed on it,” Clinton said repeatedly, as the woman tried to interrupt her. “I think it’s such a difficult thing to go back in time and say what everyone was thinking.
“What I will say is I believed that what we were doing was giving the president the authority to put inspectors in Iraq. That’s what we were told privately. That’s what we were told publicly.”
On questions ranging from health care to campaign spending, Clinton sought to emphasize her experience, frequently including the phrase “I’ve been through this” in her answers.
When a young mother expressed frustration about returning to work after her unpaid maternity leave and being forced to pump breast milk for her baby from her company’s bathroom, Clinton’s broadened the issue to all those struggling to balance work with caring for family members.
She described sponsoring bills to provide respite care for families who care for adults and children with special needs at home and to provide medical training to those caring for wounded veterans before eventually addressing the woman’s specific concern.
“With respect to breast-feeding, this is a natural part of life and we ought to be respectful of it,” she said. “Employers should try to provide some support.”
When one audience member asked if she would stay within the public campaign financing system in the general election if the Republican nominee promised to do the same, Clinton said she wouldn’t make that promise right now.
One of Clinton’s rivals, Sen. Barack Obama, has said he would pursue such a deal with his Republican challenger if he wins the Democratic nomination. Republican Sen. John McCain also has said he will abide by the public financing system if the Democratic nominee agrees to campaign under the same financial restrictions.
Clinton said she supports public financing, limiting the length of the campaign season and further restricting how money is spent, though she said the last goal might require a constitutional amendment given the Supreme Court’s position that campaign money equals free speech.
But she said she feared the Republican nominee would not keep his word regarding campaign spending limits.
“I’ve been through this before, so I may be a little more skeptical about making deals with the other side,” she said.
She accused Republicans of having a long history of using other groups, and their money, to attack opponents.
“They are good at it. The are ruthless at it,” she said. “I don’t intend to disarm because I’m going to beat them.”
AP-ES-04-14-07 1921EDT
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